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Check out these wonderful photos of an amazing assortment of Vintage BATMAN MENKO Cards. These belong to one of our new friends named Yuji. He's been collecting these for awhile & says he has even more than the ones shown here! Yeah, I'm pretty jealous, ha! I have one large uncut sheet of these that were a gift from a good friend named Saul. I also have a few loose ones. But Yuji has almost everybody beat! Oh, before I forget, I wanna thank him for sharing these pics, they're great items.
Now some people might ask, "What is Menko?". MENKO is a Japanese card game played by two or more players. It is also the name of the type of cards used to play this game. Each player uses Menko cards made from thick paper or cardboard, with one or both side printed. A player's card is placed on the hardwood or concrete floor and the other player throws down his card, trying to flip the other player's card with a gust of wind or by striking his card against the other card. If he succeeds, he takes both cards. The player who takes all the cards, or the one with the most cards at the game's end, wins the game.
OK, today I'm on sort of a "foreign kick"! That means I'm focusing on some of the extremely cool Batman Merchandise & Toys made in other countries. But trust me, this stuff is pretty cool to see so you'll like it, ha!
The 1st example is an extremely RARE item. This is a packaged Bat-Ball Toy made in Italy in 1966. This Italian Toy is almost non-existent in the US. It's probably even hard to find over there! I love the vintage-style graphics. Plus, this is one of those toys where the packaging is "everything". I mean, once you open it & there's just that generic rubber ball, then it's no longer a "character item".
The next item is fun because it's Japanese & we all know that some of the coolest Bat-items come from Japan! It's a Video Game Disc for the Sega-Saturn by Aklaim. It's also tied-into the BATMAN FOREVER Movie.
Third, is this BATMOBILE Diecast Toy Car from the UK. It's a Hot Wheels Colour Shifters Car made by Mattel.
Now, the last photos, these are really great! I really love these! This is a complete set of 6 BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES Jelly Glasses from France. I think these might have been for the UK market too. If anybody remembers those Welch's Grape Jelly Glasses we have here in the US then I think these are a little smaller. Now, you might be looking at the photo & saying, "Hey, There's 12 Glasses?!" Yes, this photo shows both the front & back of each glass. The 6 on the left are the "front". The "fronts" have Batman & the "backs" have villains. Well, one of them has the Batmobile, ha, but you get the idea.
OK, I'm hoping somebody who reads this either learned something or at least enjoyed it! What do you think? Do YOU have any wacky Batman "foreign items" you would like to share? If so, then please shoot us a pic, or pics! Remember, the main focus of the Bat-Blog is to share the love & joy of collecting.
OK, I know the Bat-Blog reports some strange stuff every now & then but I thought this was pretty cool, from a "Military History" point-of-view. This is an Original US Navy VP-24 Squadron Jacket Patch from the 1950's ( probably from the "Korean War" ). It was made by the Ace Novelty Patch Company in Tokyo, Japan. The cool thing is the mascot is BATGIRL! OK, That's kind of a stretch, but it could also be BATWOMAN! I mean, look at the bat-wings cape & the mask, ha! This particular Military Patch was once owned by a US Navy WWII Enlisted Pilot who later retired as a Lieutenant. He was a survivor of Pearl Harbor & became an Aviator. He also served in the war in Korea. Toward the end of his career he was involved in Search & Rescue missions.
Here's a totally cool photo from a Bat-Blog Fan named Jerry. Two months ago he went to Okinawa, Japan for vacation and, while there, saw this big Batman Statue in front of a local souvenir shop on Kokusai Street (also called "International Street"). I really love this picture but it also reminds me about the current tragic events in Japan. The Japanese People still need help. So, I gotta ask everyone, if they can, to please donate to the AMERICAN RED CROSS. Thank You. Oh yeah, before I forget, a special thanks also goes out to Jerry for sharing this fun pic, it's GREAT!!
Shown here is a video clip of "Batman in Japan" Stand Up Comedy at The Pink Cow, Tokyo, Japan, March 5th, 2011.
I have really been thinking about Japan the last few days & worrying a lot. Since childhood I have always loved that special place & I have always wanted to go there. Seeing all the news footage on CNN lately has been sort of heart breaking. But it is very impressive how well the Japanese are handling everything. I know they have been hit hard & hopefully things will get better soon. In the mean time they do need some help. Food & clean water is getting hard to find right now. So, if any other Bat-Blog Fans out there can, please donate to the American Red Cross. Every little bit helps. Here's a link to their Official website, just visit http://www.redcross.org
Here are some brand-new Batman Toys for Collectors to keep an eye out for. From the Takara Tomy EnterMedia company in Japan we get these two 12" BATMAN and The JOKER Action Figures, Vintage Version. I think what they mean by "Vintage Version" is that these figures look like they're from the 1980's ( or earlier ) because Batman is wearing his classic blue-gray-yellow outfit ( My favorite ).As a side note, before you totally fall in love with these new figures please keep in mind that they are going to be very very expensive.
This image up above comes from DC Comic's website & shows the extremely cool art direction for a future episode of "Batman: The Brave and The Bold". The main guest for that day will be Bat-Mite & the thing that's gonna happen is that Bat-Mite is going to pop Batman into multiple dimensions where he will be totally different in each one. The photo above shows Batman & Robin in a "Vintage MAD Magazine" type world. In fact, the characters there are called "Batboy & Rubin", ha ha! This episode is also going to have a segment where the Dynamic Duo are in the Vintage Japanese BAT-MANGA World! The art style in the animation will totally look like the graphics drawn by Jiro Kuwata in the 1960's. This image down below is from Chip Kidd's recent BAT-MANGA Book & shows what the art could kind of look like ( we don't have an actual image yet from the TV show ). Now, this episode looks like it's going to be totally great so please be sure to stay tuned to the Bat-Blog because you know we're going to be all over it, ha!
WARNING: Here's a couple of pictures of part of an amazing Batman Tin Toy Collection that will make you drool for hours. I'm warning you now that if you stare too long at these pics then you will start to cry...this stuff is that cool & that rare, ha! These photos are from our friend "BAT-CAT" who lives in Thailand. There are many examples of some super-rare Japanese Tin Toy Robots. I love that the Dark Knight has been so popular in Japan! Well, the pair of Batman & Robin Bubble Bath SOAKY Containers ( far left ) are from the USA, ©1966. So is the "Jack Nicholson Joker" & "Michael Keaton Batman" Tin Toy Robots on the lower right-hand side. I remember when those came out around the time of the 1989 movie. Also, the 2 vinyl figures on the very far right, where Batman & Robin look sort of like cute little children, those are from the 1970's & were sold in the USA. Everything else is pretty much from the 1960's & "Made In Japan". WOW! What a great selection of very hard to find bat-collectibles!! ( Thanks Bat-Cat ).
OK, I don't know what the deal is this moment about the Japanese but they are going totally crazy for Batman right now!! Here at the Bat-Blog we have reported a few new pieces of bat-merchandise lately that are exclusive to Japan. I love this area of collectibles because this stuff is not only hard to get but it's also very cool. Now, this is kind of weird, but here's a Batman-shaped Bottle of Mineral Water. I think it's really neat but I wish they would have made a "Batman head for the bottle"...that would have been better & would have completed his costume, ha! But I bet it would have made the thing way more expensive to produce so I guess I sort of understand that. Anyways, it's still pretty neat! They also have one that looks like Superman ( not pictured here ). Oh yeah, just to be clear: The 1st pic is from that companies official website & the 2nd one is a picture of the real actual item.
Check out this BATMAN BAT-MANGA Japanese Style Wallpaper!! Our buddy Saul sent us this graphic he found on the web that I thought would be totally beautiful as a desktop background ( Thanks Saul ). The artwork is totally inspired by the art of Jiro Kuwata, who was the Japanese manga comic book artist who created some original Batman stories back in the 1960's. His work was the focus of the recent "Bat-Manga! The Secret History of Batman in Japan" book by Chip Kidd. Speaking of artists, the guy who created this image is named Jordan Gibson and he lives in Austin, Texas. So, I wanna thank him for letting us use his artwork. If you wanna see more of his work ( and you should because it's cool ) then here's a LINK!
This set of photos is from our friend "Bat-Cat" who lives in Thailand. They show an amazing piece from his Vintage Batman Toy Collection. Now, see that Japanese Batman Tin Toy Robot in the RED color? Well, Bat-Cat says it is probably the only one in the world! Now, that's SUPER-RARE, ha ha! Red is such a weird color for Batman to be wearing. Did they run out of blue at the factory? Either way this thing is beautiful. Thanks to Bat-Cat for sharing the pics. Do you have a favorite piece of bat-merchandise at your house? Send us a photo today!
